"We made it out of the Maze, but at what cost?" ~ Ella, The Gladers Sand. The world was blanketed in a fine layer of sand. Everywhere you looked, the yellow particles coated the ground, shining bright and hot in the searing sun. The glare from the sun was temporarily blinding, making white spots dance before my eyes as I climbed out of the stair well. The sand was hot to the touch, each step I took feeling as though I was walking on lava. I tugged the scarf made of a torn pillowcase tighter across my face while the wind hurled sand at me, as if it was telling me to go back before it's too late. The air was so dry my lips quickly became cracked like old parchment paper. The others followed me closely, all of them shielding their eyes from the bright sun and holding their water bags close. "Where do we go now?" One of the boys whose name I didn't know murmured. "We go where they sent us. What other choice do we have?" Thomas said. Newt frowned. "So, we go to our deaths. That's bloody fantastic." Book 2 of my maze runner series, the Maze Trials